I would give 10 stars if possible. Thank you Gary Green, Josh Green, Chris Diedling, Jim Brown,…read moreetc of Ultimate Toys and Rent My Sprinter. This whole journey started with a pop up window offering to own a luxury sprinter for free, or something like that. It seemed TGTBT aka "Too Good To Be True", I was skeptical every step of the way, just waiting for the hammer to drop, but it never did!
As an entrepreneur I found the whole process fascinating, Gary is a franchise king and set this up as a way to buy a sprinter and rent it out like Airbnb, genius! The only stipulation is that you need to buy your vehicle through Ultimate toys, which Gary has designed 3 versions from experience in conjunction with Midwest Automotive Design, he makes 500 of these per year and the magic is the full sized bathroom and kitchen area with microwave, sink and refrigerator.
I was a little concerned when there was reference to a Mercedes 2017 Chasis and truth is, that is the base of the vehicle, but upon discussions with other people in the business, this is common practice and since Midwest is considered an automotive manufacturer, my title will state a 2019 vehicle, but for insurance purposes, the vin identifies a 2017 vehicle, so I am guessing I will need to wait for the title to have that switched on my policy.
As a "car guy" I have wanted a sprinter for 15 years, I thought about all the amazing things I could do with it, but could never pull the trigger, even though I have bought cars more expensive that didn't have the upside that this vehicle brought to me, so here goes, the upside.....
I created an entity, an LLC for this vehicle, because it is over 6000 lbs, it qualifies for "Bonus Depreciation" which just means you can write off the entire vehicle in the same year as the purchase, no income required! (Not to be confused with 179 depreciation, which you need to have income to offset against). The purchase of this vehicle as a tax deduction far exceeded the out of pocket costs and the cost of financing and insuring for years to come!
I very much intend to rent this vehicle out, Gary has created a partnership with the RV rental program company OutDoorsy, they do the background, credit card check on the renters and provide a $1 million policy covering the renters damage, liability, etc. I look forward to being part of something that Gary has created, he is a really great entrepreneur and I enjoy the spirit of what he is doing, it is like I bought in to one of his franchises for really cheap!
Now for driving the vehicle, when it arrived at my home a few days before Christmas, it was night time, I got a text from the driver that he was in my driveway, and when I opened the door, it was HUGE, was this the biggest mistake I have ever made? Will I ever use this thing? Will people laugh when they see this thing? I was in shock, I moved it and decided to go in for the night and have a glass of wine to settle my nerves, then curiousity set in and I decided to sit in the back of my "Presidential" and as I sat in these beautiful seats, I put the foot rest up and thought about how this thing felt like a private Jet and how little it costs in comparison, but how big it is and who the heck would drive this thing???? That's when my son, who is 18 and a fellow "car guy" hopped in the drivers seat and said "Hey Pops, want a ride?" I thought, what the heck, if he could drive it, most other people could as well, and he took me for the inaugural ride, as I sat in the back and I had a glass of wine in my new luxury sprinter, which my kids had heard me talk about during most of their childhoods :).
Thank you Ultimate Toys and www.rentmysprinter.com for making my dream come true, the journey has just begun and without Ultimate Toys, this would likely never have been a reality.
